Mariano Ruiz was born 26 January 1843 in Texcoco, México. A career army officer, Ruiz rose to the rank of division general and commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, West Division. He served as a federal deputy from 1886 to 1912, and appointed governor of Nayarit from 1904-1911. Mariano Ruiz died on 1 December 1932.

The Reminiscencias contains 133 folios of text and 74 plates that include photographs, portraits, and illustrations of Maximilian, republican and imperial generals, political dignitaries, battle scenes, and Princess Salm-Salm (née Agnes Le Clerq Joy). In his memoir Ruiz recounts the military maneuvers throughout Mexico that led to the arrest and tragic end to Emperor Maximilian and to the events that led to the twentieth-century revolution. The collection also includes newspaper clippings of Princess Salm-Salm's American visit in 1899 that corroborate Ruiz's account.

One of two extant copies of the memoirs, this was inscribed in 1928 to Ruiz's "honorable friend" Edmund Steele Joy. The manuscript was discovered in a Philadelphia attic by Joy's great-nieces Elizabeth Joy Oberdorf and Edith Joy King.

Dedicatory of the manuscript to Don Plutarco Elías Calles, Presidente de la República, 15 September 1926.

Dedicatory of the manuscript to Señor General Alvaro Obregón.

Essay about Napolion Bonaparte addressed to Señor Presidente.

Report of political and military facts that vocer the period of the French Intervention, 1862-1867. Special coverage of military campaigns of the Ejército del Norte and Ejército de Oriente as well as the Sitio de Querétaro, and the court-martial and execution of Maximilian. General Escobedo and Benito Juarez are mentioned as sources. A military document reported by General Antonio Badarrama to General Mariano Escobero is fully transcribed on leaves 32 and 33 bis. 154 leaves.

62. General Tomas d'Horan who betrayed the country by joining the French in 1862

63. General Mariano Escobedo, Commander-in-chief of the Army of the North. Mariano Ruiz was sub-teniente in the republican forces during Maximilian's reign, 1864-1867, and Jefe Superior until 1876

64. Conde de Athon, aid-de-camp of Maximilian, 1865

65. Manuel Lozada, "El Tigre de Alica," in the uniform of General de Division which was given to him by Maximilian, 1865

66. Manuel Lozada killed by a firing squad, Tepic, 5 June 1873

67. Sra. Carmen R.R. viuda de Díaz, 1926

68. General Porfirio Díaz, President of the Republic, reviewing troops at Guarnición de México at Llanos de San Lázaro on the anniversary of 1867, 2 April 1907

69. General Porfirio Díaz when he escaped by boat, June 1876. Mariano Ruiz was involved in the adventure to capture Díaz

70. General P. Díaz when he renounced the presidency, 10 April 1911

71. General Porfirio Díaz and U.S. President William Howard Taft, Ciudad Juárez, November 1910

72. José I. Limantour, ministro de Hacienda y Crédito Público, 1910

73. General Mariano Ruiz and Mr. Ingram, vice-president and general manager, Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico, at station named in Ruiz's honor [Chihuahua?]. This was at the time that Ruiz was involved in uncovering the Taft's machinations against Profirio Díaz, 1910